ogles824

Hi, my son and I are looking for a race car to run SG/SP/NE. I have looked at a mid 70's Vega that needs some body work, but have yet to talk to the owner. I noticed in the classifieds here that a lot of the adds state that the roll cage is ceritified, not certified, or in some cases not certifiable. I've been out of racing for a long time and I can remember when cars got "teched" at the track that the roll cage had to be of a certain thickness and there had to be a place drilled in the cage so this could be measured. Has it gotten a lot more "to it" than that now? What can cause a roll cage not to be certifiable?

jrthone

Good question. I my self have always wondered about that aswell. I await everybodys feedback on this question.

zipper06

Here you go right out of the 2008 rule book.


Zip.


click to open


http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.p...nu7h0h&thumb=4

gearhead1011

There is no drilling on the cage. They use a sonic tester to determine the gauge of the tubing and use a template type of gauge to check the diameter. If the cage is not legal you won't be able to run it in classes that require certification, which I'm not sure but I think just about all of the NHRA classes do now. If the only place you want to run it is outlaw tracks that don't require certification then you don't have to worry about it but the car will be more difficult to sell. I would stay away from a non-cert car. If you find one that hasn't been checked that you are interested in you could always strike a deal on the condition that it will pass and pay to have it checked. If it fails the money you spend on checking it will be money well spent.

itsabird

what gearhead1011 said.

slowmotion

I absolutely would not buy a car that was "not certifiable" for any reason. It's probably not safe at any speed. If you're looking at a car that "will" or "should" certify, Then I would try to make arrangements with a chassis shop near the car to have it checked out before you buy it. If the owner is so sure of the car then they shouldn't have a problem with it.

I bought my altered off of here. It had just recently expired both NHRA and IHRA so I was pretty confident with the car. I had a new top put on the cage simply because I was too tall for the car. It's was then certified with no problem.

lively

IF THE SELLER TELLS YOU HE DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT THE CAGE SPECS THEN IT IS UP TO THE BUYER TO CHECK IT OUT HIMSELF[IN OTHER WORDS THE BUYER SHOULD PAY TO HAVE IT CHECKED IF HE IS IN DOUBT HIMSELF]---A CERTIFIED CAGE DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOUR LIFE WILL BE SPARED BUT IT SHOULD GO ALONG WAYS TO PREVENT A HORRIBLE END IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG :shock: :shock: :shock:

I HAVE BOUGHT CARS WITH IFFY CAGES BUT THEN I REDID THEM TO BE SAFE-[ SOME PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO BUILD TO ALL THE SAFETY SPECS THAT SOME SANCTIONG BODIES HAVE]

BY ALL MEANS BUILD SAFE AND DO NOT CUT CORNERS IN THE WRONG PLACES

LIVELY

zipper06

What should also be mentioned here is that mild steel/ms tubing D.O.M. comes in .120 wall but the tolerance is +.002 -.004, and most of the time the tubing is on the minus side. I.E. .120 might be as low as .116 and will not certify, SO most chassis/roll cage builders use .134 wall tubing to guarentee that it will certify, that's only a couple lbs. for a full cage and a little security.

Zip.

slowmotion

We had a guy we know in a Vega hit the wall right after the launch. He was almost injured when the welds broke on the cage and bars were sent flying in side the car. From what I understand this was a relatively slow accident near the starting line.